I say the same thing every single year....I am NEVER surprised by the generosity of KFI listeners. Genuinely I'm not...but my mind is absolutely blown this year.
We thought we had a final number, but a few things came into play over the last week that we were not expecting, including receving information today that MORE donations have come in since Monday that were designated for our PastaThon event to benefit Caterina's Club, Chef Bruno Serato's charity in Orange County that has been providing more than 25,000 meals to children in need every week across Southern California.
We received word that Caterina's Club received today a $100,000 GRANT made on behalf of the Susi Letica Foundation. With that grant, and the additonal donations that have come in through Sunday and all of the donations made in Smart & Final stores from 11/18-12/6, we are proud to say that this year's event has raised:
$770,827 and 75,980 pounds of pasta & sauce!
That's a record in the 10 years we've been doing this...and means that in the last 10 years we've raised a total of $3,572,462 and 586,271 lbs of pasta & sauce for Caterina's Club to continue to do the amazing work they do.
Simply incredible and we COULD NOT HAVE DONE THIS WITHOUT YOU!!!
We honestly had NO idea what to expect this year because of Covid, and knowing that so many people are struggling themselves, that number just shows that despite hardships of your own, so many of you wanted to reach out to help someone else, and for that, all of us here at KFI thank you from our whole hearts.
Because of Covid and our company guidelines, we were not able to do a live in-person event this year, and that broke our heart, because we love to see you all in person, but thank you, thank you for coming through in a huge way this year, a year that has Bruno not only feeding the kids he feeds every week, but providing thousands MORE meals to the community at-large, in addition to providing pantry staples to families struggling to make ends meet during this difficult time.
Normally, it takes one year for Caterina's Club to serve 1 million meals and to go through the 110,000 pounds of pasta and sauce collected at the PastaThon last year. This year, because of the increased need in the community, they did that by August!!
However much you donated, whether it be a few dollars or $100, $1000 or more, or one box of pasta / sauce to 100 or 1000 lbs of pasta / sauce, if you went into Smart & Final to donate, or dropped by the Anaheim White House, please know that we appreciate EVERY single donation.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU....We have the best listeners in the world!